The Heroka Stories Series by Douglas Smith

AURORA AWARD WINNERMulti-award winning author."Doug Smith is, quite simply, the finest short-story writer Canada has ever produced in the science fiction and fantasy genres... His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think."—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids and FlashForward"A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice."— Charles de Lint"One of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction... moreAURORA AWARD WINNERMulti-award winning author."Doug Smith is, quite simply, the finest short-story writer Canada has ever produced in the science fiction and fantasy genres... His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think."—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids and FlashForward"A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice."— Charles de Lint"One of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction."— Library JournalBOOK DESCRIPTION:The Heroka are an ancient race of shape shifters, drawing their powers and vitality from their animal totems.Gwyn Blaidd, a Heroka of the wolf totem, has been a recluse ever since a deadly battle years ago with the Tainchel, the covert government agency that hunts the Heroka—a battle that cost him the only woman he ever loved.But when Gwyn is asked by the head of the Heroka to stop an old friend from killing a powerful logging baron, it begins a chain of events that will force Gwyn to again confront the Tainchel—and his own dark past.REVIEWS:“A vivid and wonderfully written tale about Native Canadian spirits, in the vein of Thomas King.”—Challenging Destiny"The characters are intriguing and the story beguiling. I would like to read more about these characters."—SF Crowsnest Book Reviews"Works on both intimate and epic levels (including a great, high adrenaline battle between armed humans, shape-shifters and forest animals). ... Smith's Heroka are expertly realized and an interesting take on the shape-shifter mythos, and each individual character within the story is just as carefully and finely crafted. Relationships are complex and many-layered, as Smith weaves a rich back-story into the lives of his characters... Love, sex, action, intrigue, humor, the complexities of life, tragedy of death, and wonder of rebirth are all packed into 'Spirit Dance'."— Rainbow Dragon Recommends"An adventurous tale that's propelled by character drama ... If this was a Hollywood movie, this would be your blockbuster film, complete with adrenaline-pumping action, expensive special effects, and even a sex scene or two to lure in a mainstream audience."—Bibilophile Stalker, Speculative Fiction Reviews"Smith once more creates a credible and sympathetic protagonist."—The FixABOUT THE AUTHOR:Doug is an award-winning author of speculative fiction, with over a million words of fiction sold and over a hundred short story sales to professional markets in thirty countries and two dozen languages.He has published three short story collections: Chimerascope (ChiZine Publications, Canada, 2010), Impossibilia, (PS Publishing, UK, 2008), and just recently, La Danse des Esprits (Dreampress, France, 2011).Doug has twice won Canada's Aurora Award for speculative fiction, and have been a finalist for the international John W. Campbell Award, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation's Bookies Award, and the juried Sunburst Award. less

A Heroka storyLilith Hoyl is a Heroka of the bird totem—a shapeshifter who hates the humans who killed her mate and hunt her kind.But when she meets a young girl awaiting a critical operation, their mutual love for birds brings joy back into both their lives."One expects magic with this set-up, and magic does, indeed, follow, but pain cannot be forever vanquished, for either the girl or the Hoyl. The story charms as well as pains... moreA Heroka storyLilith Hoyl is a Heroka of the bird totem—a shapeshifter who hates the humans who killed her mate and hunt her kind.But when she meets a young girl awaiting a critical operation, their mutual love for birds brings joy back into both their lives."One expects magic with this set-up, and magic does, indeed, follow, but pain cannot be forever vanquished, for either the girl or the Hoyl. The story charms as well as pains. In other hands, it would be mawkish, but Smith avoids all the pitfalls and gives us something bittersweet instead." —Fantasy Literature less

A shapeshifter hero battles ancient spirits, a covert government agency, and his own dark past in a race to solve a murder that could mean the end of the world.~~~"I can’t remember the last time I read a book that spoke to me, so eloquently, and so deeply, on so many levels. ... I’ll be rereading it in the future because it’s that sort of book. Richly layered and deeply resonant. An old friend, from the first time you read it... moreA shapeshifter hero battles ancient spirits, a covert government agency, and his own dark past in a race to solve a murder that could mean the end of the world.~~~"I can’t remember the last time I read a book that spoke to me, so eloquently, and so deeply, on so many levels. ... I’ll be rereading it in the future because it’s that sort of book. Richly layered and deeply resonant. An old friend, from the first time you read it." —Charles de Lint, World Fantasy Award winner"An extraordinary author whom every lover of quality speculative fiction should read." —Fantasy Book Critic~~~The Heroka walk among us. Unseen, unknown. Shapeshifters. Human in appearance but with power over their animal totems.Gwyn Blaidd is a Heroka of the wolf totem. Once he led his people in a deadly war against the Tainchel, the shadowy agency that hunts his kind. Now he lives alone in his wilderness home, wolves his only companions.But when an Ojibwe girl is brutally killed in Gwyn's old hometown, suspicion falls on his former lover. To save her, Gwyn must return, to battle not only the Tainchel, but even darker forces: ancient spirits fighting to enter our world…And rule it.~~~Cree and Ojibwe legends mix with current day environmental conflict in this fast-paced urban fantasy from a three-time Aurora Award winning author. less